UMass researchers seek senior citizens to help them study effects of age on reaction time

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanPsychology professor Susan K. Whitbourne at her lab at the University of Massachusetts, where she is part of a study in which people over 65 will play a video game to measure the effects of age on reaction time and nonverbal intelligence.

AMHERST – University of Massachusetts researchers are willing to pay people 65 and older to play the video game Bejeweled Blitz.

The deal provides $20 for the seniors and valuable information for the researchers.

Psychology researchers Susan K. Whitbourne and Gillian Freeman are limiting the group to those who have never played the game.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Whitbourne, who specializes in mid life development and successful aging. A student introduced her to the game on Facebook and she saw its research potential.

“I can feel it working,” she said.

The game relies on speed, the ability to spot relevant patterns, and the ability to predict stimulus patterns.

It allows researchers to look at the effects of age on reaction time and what is known as “fluid,” or nonverbal intelligence.

The first phase of the two-phase study will allow researchers to measure how the older group compares to a group of 18- to 23-year-olds. All players will play 20 one-minute games.

“We have to do baseline steps before you can move to the next phase,” Whitbourne said.

The goal is to show that training in the game can produce transferable skills to real world tasks that involve rapid decision-making. “It will improve their cognitive ability,” she said.

Research in this area helps to understand the tools that can be used to keep people sharp as they age, she said.

PopCap Games, the Seattle maker of Bejeweled Blitz, is funding the research with a $10,000 grant.